Marlins Park To Close Upper Bowl For Some Games

A family sits in an empty section of seats during the Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies game at Marlins Park on April 13, 2013 in Miami. (Photo by Jason Arnold/Getty Images)(Photo by Jason Arnold/Getty Images)

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Next time you go to Marlins Park, you won’t be sitting in the nosebleed seats, at least during weekday games.

The Marlins, whose attendance ranks last in the National League five weeks into the season, have decided to close the upper bowl at Marlins Park for certain weekday games, an approach the team used at times at Sun Life Stadium.

The higher deck seats will be off limits starting with the Marlins next home games series which starts Tuesday.

That will reduce the attendance capacity by about 10,000.

The move is expected to save the team money on game operations, as fewer ushers and other staff will be needed to man the areas on the upper floors.

The team may consider closing the upper bowl for remaining weeknight games this season, but has yet to determine if it will do so.

Fewer than 500 people own season tickets in the upper bowl, and those fans are being moved — with no additional charge — to seats in the lower bowl for all Monday-through-Thursday games.

The Marlins are drawing fewer than 20,000 fans per game, down from about 27,000 last year in the team’s first year in its new stadium.

Upper bowl tickets to weeknight games will continue be sold on Marlins.com. Fans who buy single-game upper deck tickets will be moved to the lower bowl if the Marlins decide to close the upper bowl on those particular nights.